In today's Mobile Packet Cores (“MPCs”), all functions relevant to signaling and data plane processing are incorporated into a single monolithic MPC. These MPCs often manage subscriber data in one or more functional elements and complement these with signaling plane and data plane routing functions for terminating mobile calls. As a result, such MPCs are inherently centralized: the functional element performs all work related to mobile processing for the set of subscribers. Consequently, all data plane traffic is treated equally by an MPC.
Differentiation of MPC service for subscribers and their flows typically only occurs inside the MPC. Deep Packet Inspection (“DPI”) is often first employed on data packets by an MPC to identify what functions are needed for the flow. Once identified, the appropriate functions are selected for fielding the data call; however, by the time the DPI functions execute, the packet is already routed to a particular MPC, at which point easy specialization of service is no longer possible.